The present invention relates to surgical clip appliers embodied as an instrument having a supply of clips for rapidly deploying several clips in closing severed blood vessels and other small fluid carrying ducts in surgical procedures. There are many different designs for surgical clip applicators for a variety of surgical procedures including both open surgery and laparoscopy in which a clipping appliance fits through a trocar tube into a body cavity where the clips are applied.
This invention comprises improvements in repeating multi-clip appliers of the kind described and claimed in my co-pending application Ser. No. 09/521,444 filed Mar. 7, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,423,079. A surgical clip applicator described in the co-pending application comprises an operating handle and clip applying mechanism having an operating cycle in which operating levers are squeezed together and released. In this operating cycle, a clip is applied in surgery and the clip applicator is reloaded with a single clip from a clip supply channel for clip application in the next cycle. The applicator provides a moveable clip supply channel containing a line of clips that are released seriatim. The supply channel integrates a clip pusher and an escapement or clip stop spring in a single unit.
Clip crimping jaws apply a clip with a rearward movement of a camming member thereby allowing the functions of clip loading and jaw closure to be coordinated and operated by a single sliding bar moving reciprocally to load and fire clips.
The clip actuating mechanism includes a combined actuating rod and in-line clip supply channel together with clip indexing mechanisms arranged so that with a squeeze of the operating levers, the actuating rod moves rearward in the appliance to apply a clip in surgery, capture the next in-line clip, index a line of clips rearward away from the clip jaws; and that with release of the operating levers, the jaws open, the next in-line clip is loaded into the jaws, the second next in-line clip is separated from the line, and the clip indexing movement is reset for the next cycle. The clip applicator includes a novel mechanism with minimal complexity especially suited for a disposable cartridge for fixed handle appliances.
A clip applicator of the co-pending application also employs low operating force without recoil, a clip counter, jaw lockout after the last clip and is adaptable for use as a quick snap-in disposable cartridge with a fixed non-disposable operating handle. An operating handle that provides linear reciprocating motion including scissors-type or pistol grip is used with that invention.
In practice, clip cartridges are ordinarily used a single time and discarded. Operating handles, on the other hand, may be disposed of after use with a single cartridge, may be used with a plurality of cartridges in a single surgical procedure and then discarded, or may be autoclaved after each surgical procedure and used over and over again.
This invention provides improvements for a repeating multi-clip applier having a simplified mechanism for applying clips which mechanism is suitable for the full spectrum of clip appliers including open surgery and laparoscopy. The applier mechanism is particularly adaptable to the disposable cartridge/fixed handle design. The simplified mechanism reduces tooling and assembly requirements, provides high operating reliability at lower product cost.